June 01, 2016
Jim Curtin gave a great answer to a tactical question at his Tuesday press conference.
It was a boot-room breakdown of the goal his Union team conceded to the Colorado Rapids in Saturday night's 1-1 draw.
Curtin has historically been open to discussing pretty much anything with the press. He'll answer questions about injuries and rumors. He'll answer questions about tactics and strategy, so long that it doesn't interfere with game preparation or tip off the opposition to Union secrets.
But Curtin doesn't usually go into this much depth about a specific play, or reveal too much about what players are told in film sessions.
The goal in question was Sam Cronin's 87th-minute opener, which came off a delayed run into the box and a cross from wide right.
Y en el minuto 86 #SamCronin le da un toque interesante al partido #COLvPHI 😮https://t.co/vdFx3nNuoM
— Fútbol MLS (@futbolMLS) May 29, 2016
Here's the full transcript of the quote, broken down into three segments so that we can use some photos to illustrate his various points.
Philly Voice: Going back to the Colorado goal, it's a late run into the box. You can see Roland Alberg gesturing to Brian Carroll about Sam Cronin, but neither player ends up picking up that run. Whose responsibility is that?
Jim Curtin: "We broke that one down in film (Monday). Obviously, it’s a team effort, for sure. You can see Roland does point to BC, he passes on the message to BC. BC heard it, we cleared that up, too. At that stage, you have a couple of things going on. You have Warren Creavalle, who lost the ball, is in a recovery sprint to get back. He does a good job. There’s that second of indecision between Warren and Ray Gaddis. I think Ray tries to do the teammate thing and deal with two things at once. So, he steps a little bit out and tries to…Actually, he steps in and leaves Marlon Hairston a little bit wide. Again, not wrong, because we teach them at that stage in the final third we defend 'inside to out' so Ray’s move to come inside was to protect. There was a little indecision where Warren is probably the one who should’ve stepped out to the ball to get pressure on the ball because that’s the most critical thing."
Curtin: "You’ll see in the tape now as it gets played wide Ray has to turn his back and spin. He goes to close (Mekeil Williams) down and the big discussion for me, it’s the hardest part of a center back’s job, but we work very hard on our recovery sprints and the center backs are required to be at the six (yard line). It’s a tough one when a guy comes from a deep spot, and, yeah, could BC or Roland have tracked a little better in this instance? For sure. But, the way I coach my center backs, I put that on them to win those battles in that exact area right in front of goal. Whether it’s a deep run, whether it’s a target forward you’re dealing with, that’s on them, and we talked through that. Keegan Rosenberry should speak, as well, and Keegan should slide over one man, which bumps Tribbett. You leave the furthest guy because if it’s clipped to the back post we can recover in time."
Curtin: "I’m going probably way too much into detail on this, but this is how we talked through it in the film. Richie’s step, he takes one step forward, which is literally leads to him being one inch away from clearing it; he should take one step back instead because there was no one running hard to the near post. There’s a guy there but he’s not in a dangerous spot. So, again, I just probably named 25 things that could’ve happened but, yeah, Roland acknowledged and pointed and made a note that Cronin was running. Again, it’s not often that the two number sixes make deep runs in a game and get goals, I think it’s a unique game, in that regard. But, I’d put that one on my center backs, and that’s the crappy part of the position. You can be great for 86 for 87 minutes but you fall asleep for one and a good team will take a goal. And Colorado’s a good team."
